Two Green Squids

by CxllieRush

Rider and Gloves have had a bit of a rivalry since they first met during the Square King cup. They both like Goggles too, and lately they've been extra competitive about it. However, Goggles likes someone else, as the two realize that, they also begin to realize their own true feelings… (Gloves x Rider)

6. Chapter 6 (FINALE): New Albacore Nights

lack of motivation got the best of me lmaoo :,) i eternally love everyone who finds the sonic underground reference :3

WELCOME TO DA GLOVRAI FINALE WE BALL LIKE THE BASKETBALL HOOP IN SPLAT 1'S TRAINING ROOM (RIP) 💚💚💥💥💥

"WELCOME TO THE PARTY!" Aloha shouted to everyone, mic in hand. "THE ONLY RULE IS DON'T LOOK LAME, 'CAUSE I'M SO RICH I CAN PAY FOR ALL THE DAMAGES!"

"Of course you're rich, how else did you afford renting this place out?" scoffed Army. "Money can't buy what I really need!" smirked the pink inkling. "Your heart~"

"Thank cod I'm not that bad with another guy." thought Rider, watching Army get publicly embarrassed by the pink squid. He noticed Goggles and Hachi, and coincidentally Gloves saw them at the same time while getting candy from the table with Skull.

The blue inkling and pink octoling were dancing as if they were two princes in the most luxurious ballroom in the world. Oddly mature for Goggles, but Hachi was with him at every step. "Glad he's happy." thought Gloves, walking back to find Rider.

Rider continued watching the blue inkling and his lover, but his concentration was broken by a cold can of soda hitting his bare skin. "Got you a drink!" laughed Gloves. "You could've publicly embarrassed me." scoffed Rider, blushing. He looked at Gloves again, noticing his mischievous smile. "Stupid smile…" His blush became uncontrollable.

"They're obvious." said Half-Rim, pointing to Gloves and Rider. "I know a lot of our friends were talking about their tension." replied Specs. "I always remembered them competing for Goggles though?"

"Haven't heard either of them talk about him for a while now." shrugged Half-Rim. Specs sighed. "I wonder how it feels to be desired that badly…" he muttered, getting a very confused look from his green friend. A tall, yellow inkling heard him too. "What's this about feeling desired?" asked Emperor. Specs blushed. "Why are both of you so concerned?!"

"Sorry, I guess I won't ask you to dance with me~" sighed Emperor, dramatically. The blush returned to Specs' face. "N-No! Please ask that!" he pleaded, feeling himself slowly coming closer to the taller yellow inkling. "I'll start slow, since I'm the king of ballroom dancing." said Emperor.

"I'm smart with a lot of things…B-But not dancing." Specs said sheepishly. "I suspected that, don't worry my dear Specs~" smiled Emperor, giving him a kiss on the head. "The shorter the squid, the easier it is to reach there." he remarked confidently. "I'm average height!" pouted Specs. "You're just taller than most of the inkfish here!"

Emperor took Specs' hands, making the blue inkling blush. "Don't be so stubborn on our first date. A king must be tall to have a mighty presence." replied Emperor, smugly. "How else would such a cute inkling desire a dance with me?"

"Hey, looks like Specs found a date!" smirked Gloves. "Humph. Good for him." replied Rider. "Everyone's brought their X-Rank dating game tonight!" laughed the green inkling. "I hope I'm next." he added, secretly eyeing Rider while he wasn't looking.

"A-ALOHA!" shouted Army, stumbling around as the pink inkling poorly attempted copying Emperor and Hachi's dancing. The orange inkling blushed, he thought he shouldn't be enjoying this at all but here he was. "What's wrong?" asked Aloha in a flirtatious tone.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE I LOVE YOU!" blurted out Army, grabbing everyone's attention.

Aloha was in shock for a moment, but it soon turned into a smile. "I knew that." he chuckled. "I took every step to not be obvious though!" huffed Army. Aloha shrugged. "Goes to show your manual is completely useless!"

Almost everyone who witnessed that smirked, some even took photos they'd post to embarrass Army later while he began barking at the pink inkling about how his manual was not useless. "It's kinda cute when you get all defensive and fiery~" Aloha responded.

Army averted his gaze. "No it's n-" Before he knew it, Aloha's lips locked in with his. The orange inkling felt extremely flustered and embarrassed, especially when Aloha's brother Diver shouted "YOU DID IT BRO!", but eventually gave into his deepest desires and left his mouth at Aloha's mercy. That's when everyone decided it was a good idea to look away.

"I seriously fell for the dumbest idiot ever…" mumbled Army. "And I fell for the cutest~" chuckled Aloha, giving his new lover another kiss on the lips.

Afterwards, no new couples were formed but everyone was having fun partying. A spotlight shone down on the romantic sight that was Goggles and Hachi. "Hey, we should do something funny under it!" smiled Goggles. Hachi had a different idea, and kissed Goggles under the light where all could see the true love between them. "Did you find that funny, my azurite?"

"I'm jealous." commented Rider.

"But…" replied Gloves. "I thought…"

"I want to be under that light." said Rider.

Feeling that he was referring to being in Hachi's place, Gloves felt his heart shatter into one million pieces. "Oh, I see how it is." he said with a big hint of pain in his voice.

He got closer to Rider…

…To slap him in the face.

"I GUESS NOTHING MATTERED TO YOU AND YOUR AGGRESSIVE, OVERCONFIDENT AND COLD ASS!"

The green inkling rushed off.

"Wait, Gloves!" cried Clip-Ons, getting Straps and Half-Rim before running off to follow him. Rider was left completely confused and heartbroken. He just watched the unlikely love of his dreams run away from him. "I'm so fucking stupid, just saying bullshit without explaining why I'm really jealous…"

"Hey. What the hell did you do to him?" asked Bamboo. "I didn't mean what I said." answered Rider in a cold tone. "Leave me the hell alone."

"You're going to tell me what you did." Bamboo said in a tone equally as cold. "I already told you, I didn't mean what I said. He took my sentence the wrong way, and thinks I'm still into a boy who's clearly taken." grumbled Rider.

Outside at the hotel's poolside, Gloves looked up into the night sky. "I should have known he was a shallow asshole who only cared about Goggles…" he said into the darkness. Remembering everything they've recently bonded over and the flirty exchanges they shared hurt more than any loss he's faced in battle.

Another green inkling crouched down in front of him, and wiped the singular tear from his eye. "Gloves…" Clip-Ons frowned. "I'm so damn mad…" muttered Gloves. "I regret everything and should have never let that jerk in."

As Clip-Ons sat next to him and comforted her teammate, Straps and Half-Rim also sat by them, hoping they can find out about what happened and help him. "Please tell us what happened." said Clip-Ons.

Gloves took a deep breath. "When Goggles and Hachi kissed, Rider turned around and told me how jealous he was of Hachi, despite the EVERYTHING WE SHARED TOGETHER AND EVERY DAMN THING WE BONDED OVER SINCE WE STOPPED FIGHTING!" he shouted. "I guess he never cared though, and only toyed with me for some sick reason!"

"Oh, that bitch…" growled Straps, ready to fight Rider herself. "Wait, it's more important we help Gloves." responded Clip-Ons, stopping her friend. Half-Rim was completely quiet for a moment before speaking. "Hey, I know what it's like."

The other three were surprised. "Half-Rim…You know how heartbreak feels?" asked Gloves. "Why didn't you ever tell us?!"

"Because Gloves, I didn't want to worry you." answered Half-Rim. "I was in love with you for the longest time since we met all those years ago…It took me so long to realize that you would never feel the same, and that realization made me feel completely broken and hopeless."

Gloves was completely in shock. "T-That's exactly how I feel about Rider…I wish I fell for you, but-"

Half-Rim cut his childhood friend off. "I got over it, because I also realized that there is always at least one inkfish in Inkopolis that will love me, even if I haven't met them yet." The usually stoic inkling smiled. "Besides, I still enjoy your company even if we aren't lovers."

Clip-Ons also smiled softly at Gloves. "We're here for you, and we won't judge you for crying about these things. Your feelings are valid and we'll appreciate you for everything Rider failed to see!"

"Hell, we'll make him jealous by having the greatest time ever at this party as four tight-knit besties!" exclaimed Straps. "YOU'RE OUR BESTIE GLOVES, NOT THAT BITCHASS JARED!"

Gloves wiped another tear from his eye. "I really appreciate you guys. I couldn't have asked for better pals to team up with!" he smiled. "Rider can go suck a dick, let's throw our own party right here by the pool!"

In the hotel, Rider sat in-between two vending machines while everyone else was having fun. He pushed his teammates away with a heavy heart, realizing his mistake but unable to process what just happened. "Gloves…I wasn't jealous of Hachi. I was jealous of both of them, I wanted that to be us…"

He watched Goggles and Hachi flirt at the food table, Aloha pinning Army to the wall, Emperor teaching Specs how to dance, Bobble and Headphones singing karaoke, and other couples made up of cephalopods he knew having the time of their lives at this stupid party.

Rider felt his eyes water, a sensation he hadn't felt in ages. He hung his head as he let the tears fall. He didn't have anyone to be there for him, because he pushed anyone who approached him away. He felt the spot on his face that Gloves slapped. "I don't deserve him."

His heart ached as he remembered everything, from the slumber party, to their first makeout session, to the shopping trip for fancy suits. At the moment, he needed Gloves more than anything. He knew that the green inkling was his perfect match all along, even if he couldn't see it for the longest time.

The mood seemed completely different outside with Team Gloves. Straps began playing Off The Hook's greatest hits, including a demo for an unreleased re-recording of Color Pulse. Her and Gloves were practically embarrassing themselves with their silly dance moves while Clip-Ons sang along and Half-Rim observed the mess.

It was as if Rider hadn't betrayed his trust, until a pang of sadness hit him. He was doing perfectly fine for a while until something just hit him, and he couldn't explain why. He turned off the radio for a moment. "Guys…"

"Is this about Rider?" asked Half-Rim. Gloves nodded. "I should've known that I can't just get over such a guy in minutes…I'm still grieving." he explained. "That feeling is all too familiar to me." replied Half-Rim. "Heartbreak after feeling so highly in love is the worst."

"I don't mean to sound sensitive," said Clip-Ons. "But it's really strange how he just suddenly went back to being all over Goggles like that. Are you sure it wasn't a misunderstanding?" Gloves shook his head. "He didn't need to specify who he was jealous of, I knew exactly who he was talking about. I bet he's already shoved Hachi aside for a dance with him!"

"Gloves. You two need to talk about this." added Half-Rim.

"Rider. You two need to talk this out." said Bamboo inside of the hotel, where Rider was. Stealth nodded in agreement. "Listen to us, Rider." spoke Blazer. You've come so far in learning about what it means to have friends and having others who care about you…"

Blazer firmly held Rider's hand. "But most importantly, you learned how to LOVE! Gloves has taught you so much about true love and you're just gonna throw it all away?! That sounds like the Rider we knew back in Inkopolis Plaza!"

"Yeah Rider!" shouted Bamboo. "DO YOU NOT HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING TO YOURSELF?!" she asked him sternly. "Get out there, find Gloves, and come back holding hands or else I'm quitting on this team!"

Rider's expression found itself returning to its usual intimidating look. "Right." He took off to find Gloves, his first idea being outside.

Almost identically, Gloves gave his own team a confident nod.

"GLOVES!"

The green inkling quickly turned his head. "Rider!" The two met on the grates bridging over the pool. "Clip-On and Half-Rim said you might've…not meant what you said?"

Rider nodded. "I should've been clearer, Gloves…" he said. "It's not Hachi I'm jealous of. Hell, it's not even Goggles!"

"Then who was it?" asked Gloves.

"I'm jealous of how they get to just be in love and share a kiss under the spotlight." Rider gently clutched the fabric covering his heart, and took a deep breath. He paused for a moment.

"BECAUSE I WANT TO LIVE THAT LIFE WITH YOU! I've fallen tentacle over roller for you like some idiot…I need you, Gloves, and my own team told me how much you feel the same."

Gloves had no words, and just gazed into his eyes. It was as if time had stopped, and he never wanted it to move again. "I…I love you too, man!"

Over the course of their exchange, the two naturally inched closer and closer to each other, until their faces were nearly touching. "I'm tired of this friends with benefits thing, Gloves. We're meant to be more than that."

Gloves brought the yellow-green inkling's face down to his level, and at the perfect angle to see the moon reflect on their tentacles, being two different shades of green. Gloves kissed him more genuinely than he ever had before, his hand holding Rider's flushed cheek.

When they broke away, they continued gazing at each other for another moment, before Gloves broke the tension. He handed Rider the rose from his outfit. "I'm sick of this place, I challenge you to a one-on-one turf war out here!"

"Wow, so romantic you dork." sighed Rider. "Hey, I think battle's a great expression of love!" laughed Gloves. "Get your weapon or get WRECKED, MY BELOVED!"

The End!

I FINISHED AFTER A YEAR i'm so proud of these gays and i'm rlly happy that so many of u enjoyed this lil story! this finale was a lil short but i didn't wanna drag it out just bc it was "the grand finale!" if u like my coroika fics i'm still writing an ochowire story and plan to do an aloarmy one ^^

this is cal, signing OFF~